Dreaming of creating your own art masterpiece one day?
Thanks to programs like Mr. Picasso Head and bomomo, now you can further explore your creativity. With Mr. Picasso Head, you can create your own Picasso-like piece. Really fun!
Here’s one of my creations:
Framed it and all so it’d look like a real painting. 
This is inspired by one of Pablo Picasso’s sketches.
In Bicol almost everything is cooked with coconut milk; including snacks. One good example of that is pinakro (click if you understand Bikol), wherein banana, root tubers like cassava, or even sticky rice is cooked in coconut milk untel tender. It’s very easy to prepare and you only need a few ingredients.
While Frank (the typhoon last Sunday, June 22) was busy lashing the whole country, I remembered that dad brought back from Bicol a variety of banana called pinipita — that’s what it’s called in Bikol. It’s firmer than saba. Here’s how this kind of banana looks:
Pinipita
peeled and sliced
Anyway, I thought of cooking these bananas–unripe and just perfect for pinakro–instead of just looking out the window, watching some falling trees and leaves flying in all direction or just listening to the angry howling of the wind. I went with the taskfast: washed the bananas, peeled and sliced them in quarters so they’d cook fast. I soaked them in water (to pevent discoloration) while I squeezed the niyog. You can use canned coconut but I prefer the ‘real’ niyog. Mas masarap.
On with the cooking. I placed the sliced bananas in a pot, poured the coconut milk, added a dash of salt and brown sugar, covered the pot and placed it on the stove. By the way, I used the coconut milk obtained from the second squeezing and set aside the kakang gata (coconut milk obtained from the first squeezing). After 5 or 10 minutes, when half of the coconut milk has evaporated, I added the kakang gata, then covered the pot again. I only had to wait for a few more minutes and voila! Yum-yum merienda. Look:
Presenting: Pinakrong Batag (banana)
A closer look.
You can sprinkle sugar on top — a lot if you like. Or dip it in honey. I think that would really taste good. Haven’t tried it though.
A day tour to Corregidor is a little expensive, costing around 2, 000 pesos via Sun Cruises. But the ferry ride to the island was inviting. It’s not everyday that I get to ride one! Although not a swimmer, still, I’m a fan of the sea. Just inhaling the cool sea breeze relaxes my mind and my nerves. The water couldn’t sound more wonderful when it kisses the shore or its waves slap over boulders of rocks and brave sea vessels. Yeah, I love the sound of the sea. That’s why, I couldn’t resist the trip to Corregidor!
Since the island was a military reservation during World War II, Corregidor is a favorite destination among war veterans, Filipinos and Americans alike. It is also frequented by students, teachers, foreign visitors, and Pinoy travelers, too. Like myself.
Going to Corregidor is more or less an hour’s ferry ride from Manila. The ferry leaves CCP terminal at around eight o’clock in the morning. As the boat traverse the sea, you are free to go around; buy some snacks, take pictures, or you may go to the second deck where you’ll be able to enjoy the panorama of the ocean, the islands and mountains from afar and even the diminishing view of the city you left behind. When the ferry finally docks in Corregidor, tourist guides, tranvias and their drivers await the visitors at the port, ready to take them around the island.
Compared to the place I remembered visiting as a child, Marikina is almost unrecognizable to me now, in a positive kind of way. The streets are clean, its people are disciplined. More than that, Marikina has a lot more to offer-places to explore, a culture to experience.
My work has given me the chance to visit one of the city’s tourist destinations: World of Butterflies, run by the local government of Marikina. WOB’s main goal is to conserve the habitat of the butterflies. Aside from its butterfly garden, it is also a sanctuary for breeding them. Here, one can see the different stages of a butterfly’s life cycle.
Among the insects, butterflies have one of the most complicated life cycles. And unlike the other creatures under Class Insecta, they do not undergo a nymph period before becoming an adult; instead, a butterfly changes appearance when it becomes an imago. So, there’s no such thing as baby butterfly.
Maligayang ika-110 Araw ng Kalayaan sa lahat ng Pilipino. Saang dako ka man naroroon, saludo sa iyo ang mundo. Ipagbunyi ang iyong kalayaan! Nawa’y patuloy mong pangalaan ang kalayaang ipinaglaban ng iyong mga ninuno at patuloy na makibaka para sa iyong dakilang bayan.
Laging taas-noo. Dahil ikaw ay malayang Pilipino.
(Larawang may kahalintulad na paksa)
Barkadas have another choice for an eat-out gimik: Halo Café. It is named so because of the kind of food they serve – light and healthy. This cozy little place is located at the Cubao Expo in Araneta Center. Here, diners can enjoy vegan dishes like the veggie burger and veggie burger steak, veggie medley lettuce wraps, and eggplant & cheese wholewheat tortilla. Halo also offers pasta dishes, so if you’re adventurous enough, you may want to try the spaghetti with malunggay pesto. They do not serve red meat; only chicken and tuna. Their line up of beverages are must-try. There’s the bohol coffee, bohol tsokolate, wheatgrass cold tea and Halo’s house specialty the tarragon tea.
What I have tried (together with friends) so far in Halo’s menu are:
(a) Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Olives – this one I highly recommend. I like how the tomatoes and olives blended and created a slightly sour sauce which suited my taste bud very well.
(b) Spaghetti with malunggay pesto – this dish is for the brave and adventurous. Although the malunggay sauce may look like your regular pesto, there’s more than slight difference in the taste since it is impossible to totally remove the bitter taste of the malunggay. Hey, but this is really healthy! Remember that malunggay is a better source of vitamin C than citrus fruits.
(c) Veggie Medley Lettuce Wraps – a little salty for my taste but still good. Look forward to discovering the taste of banana and ginger combined.
(d) Chicken Pastel – hmmm… this is different from the usual pastel dish because this one is not baked. It was okay. Still healthy, I guess, because it uses white meat (chicken skin not included).
(e) Wheat Grass Cold Tea – a drink that you MUST try when you eat at Halo. The wheat grass they use is freshly cut from the plant box they keep outside of the café.
(f) Eggplant & Cheese Wholewheat Tortilla – I think the wholewheat tortilla made the difference in this appetizer. And the eggplant? The eggplant always goes well with anything!
(g) Tuna Steak – one of the best-tasting in the menu. Loved the way it was cooked.
(h) Tarragon Tea – a highly recommended after meal beverage. Halo uses a mixture of fresh and dried tarragon leaves. You will enjoy its natural sweet flavor and fragrant aroma. I think it has a calming effect on the drinker because when I had a cup at Halo, I was able to sleep immediately when I got home. Maybe I should start growing tarragon in my backyard.
Here’s a peek at some of the food we tried:
(1) veggie medley lettuce wraps (2) vegetarian burger
(3) eggplant and cheese wholewheat tortilla (4) spaghetti with malunggay pesto
(5) wheatgrass cold tea (6) wheatglass plant box
Food prices range from fifty pesos to a little more than a hundred pesos. Really affordable. 
For a list of Halo Cafe’s offering, click here.
A few snapshots of Halo’s interior:
A tag from Paolo of blacklinemedia.
1. One movie that made you laugh.
Believe it or not, it’s Sukob! While other people in the cinema were shouting/scared, my friend and I were laughing all throughout the movie because of one of the character’s really bad acting! (Kahit sa TV commercials nga, dir in maayos umarte, hay nuku!)
2. One movie that made you cry.
La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful). This film gives you all the funny and cheerful stuff first, but towards the end it will trigger your emotion. Just thinking of the sacrifices a father has to do to make a normal life for his child during WWII and in a prison camp…
3. One movie you loved when you were a child.
Ay, mga movies ni Matet at saka ni Aiza kung minsan.
4. One movie you’ve seen more than once.
Inuulit-ulit ko lahat ng movies na meron ako.
5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it.
I’m not embarrassed to admit any movie I’ve seen. Lahat kinukwento ko. 
6. One movie you hated.
Bruce Almighty. I don’t like the profanity in this film. Feeling ko nga blasphemous din sya.
7. One movie that scared you.
The Ring series – the original versions. Do I need to explain why?
8. One movie that bored you.
Dalawa na sila ngayon, actually. Dati yung Dr. Zhivago lang! Sobrang haba ng movie na `to. Over sa dialogue. When I was watching this film on DVD, I fell asleep twice. Pag nagigising ako, di pa rin sya tapos! At usap pa rin ng usap yung mga characters. Across the Universe. The songs were great but, there’s something in the course of events that’s just not right. I fell asleep while watching it.
9. One movie that made you happy.
Europa Europa. Felt good watching this movie, lalo na pagdating sa ending. Parang nag-adventure sa buong Europa ang central character, kahit pa giyera.
10. One movie that made you miserable.
Jú Dòu. Don’t get me wrong, because Zhang Yimou is one of my favorite filmmakers. Maybe the plot of this film was too much for me when I first saw it. Maganda sya, pero nakakalungkot na medyo nakakainis din.
11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see.
None so far. Yabang ko, no? Basta, kahit mag-isa talaga, nanonood ako ng horror films sa bahay. Ang lapit ko pa nyan sa TV o kaya sa monitor ng computer kasi ayoko magsalamin. hehehe
12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with.
Ngayon, si Amy Adams. Aliw na aliw ako sa kanya sa Enchanted saka sa Junebug.
13. The last movie you saw.
Outsourced. Dapat panoorin `to ng mga companies na mahilig mag-outsource sa kung saan-saang panig ng mundo.
14. The next movie you hope to see.
Urduja. Been waiting for it for months.
I’m passing this meme to: sonnet’s, hitokirihoshi, kengkay, rhapsody, misyel, witchy, and raft3r.
crumb trails by salve canale is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License
